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Description

Seen in the Akeley Hall of African Mammals, at the American Museum of Natural History. In the same African bush elephant herd, there is a youngster with tusks (the same one that was beside the matriarch). Elephants are born without tusks, but have instead a set of milk teeth. However, since tusks are teeth (to be specific, the upper incisors), they start showing during the first year of an elephant's life, when they will replace the baby's set of milk teeth, extending from a socket in the skull. An African elephant's pair tusks of start to appear, protruding from the lips and becoming permanent at around the age of two years. The tusks will continue to grow throughout the elephant's lifetime.

Description

Seen in the Akeley Hall of African Mammals, at the American Museum of Natural History. In the same African bush elephant herd, there is a youngster with tusks (the same one that was beside the matriarch). Elephants are born without tusks, but have instead a set of milk teeth. However, since tusks are teeth (to be specific, the upper incisors), they start showing during the first year of an elephant's life, when they will replace the baby's set of milk teeth, extending from a socket in the skull. An African elephant's pair tusks of start to appear, protruding from the lips and becoming permanent at around the age of two years. The tusks will continue to grow throughout the elephant's lifetime.